Jib sail



Nov. 4, 1958 I R. l. S'TEARNS JIB SAIL Filed Sept. 6,1956

' v I INVENTOR. 8 E 62 zyarciffiiawzg BY United States Patent JIB SAIL Richard I. Stearns, Chicago, Ill., assignor to Murphy & Nye, Inc., a corporation of Illinois Application September 6, 1956, SerialNo. 608,311 4 Claims. cl. 114-103 This invention relates to sails and, more particularly, to a jib sail and the method of making same.

The jib is a triangular sail which is carried or mounted at the forward end of a sailing vessel. It is very important that the draw of a jib be adjustable for all wind conditions so that in lighter air a deep pocket may be provided in the jib and in heavy winds a very slight or shallow pocket may be formed in the jib.

It has been the practice in the past in rigging a jib to secure the luff or leading edge at spaced intervals either to an external jib stay or to a line extending through a passage formed in the luff of the jib. As it is very diflicult to simulate the various forces exerted by the wind on the sail at the time the line member is secured or seized" to the luff of the sail, the problem remains of the jib drawing unevenly under various actual wind conditions and this results in a substantial decrease in the efficiency of the jib. The presence of wrinkles along the luff is indicative that the jib is drawing unevenly. Until this time, there has been no sail construction which could be adjusted to suit various wind conditions to effectively eliminate the wrinkles and unevenness which form in 'a sail under various actual sailing conditions.

It is, therefore, the general object of this invention to provide a new and improved jib and method of making same which will eliminate the above disadvantages.

A further object of this invention is to provide a new and improved jib wherein the draw of the jib may be easily adjusted for all wind conditions-and wherein the jib provides an improved efficiency over the jibs now in use.

It has been discovered that a jib can be caused to draw efliciently under all wind conditions if means are provided for independently adjusting the tension in the lufli of the jib and the tension of the supporting member to which the luff is slidably secured. Thus it is a further object of the invention to produce a jib wherein the luff of the jib and its supporting member may be independently tensioned.

Another object of this invention is to provide a new and improved jib wherein the jib sail blank has a tape secured to the luff of the jib so as to provide a passage within the tape extending the length of the luff, wherein a non-rigid line member passes through the passage and is seized to the tape at one point only and wherein a pair of downhauls are connected respectively to the nonrigid line member and to the lower end of the tape so that the tension in the line member and in the luff of the sail may be independently adjusted.

A further object of the invention is to provide such a jib wherein the line member may be adjusted to the proper pull for a particular wind condition and then the tension in the luff edge of the sail may be independently adjusted to remove any wrinkles that might form along the luff of the jib.

A further object of the invention is to provide a new and improved method of making a jib.

Other objects and advantages Will become apparent from the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a sailing vessel rigged with a preferred embodiment of the jib of this invention; Fig. 2 is an enlarged side elevation of the jib shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged horizontal sectional view taken generally along line 33 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a top plan showing the sail blank and the tape staked out under tension preparatory to matchmarking the luff of the sail blank and the tape;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged horizontal sectional view taken generally along line 5-5 of Fig. 1 and showing the jib adjusted for a heavy wind condition; and

Fig. 6 is an enlarged horizontal sectional view taken generally along line 66 of Fig. l and showing the jib adjusted for a light wind condition.

While the invention is herein described in a preferred embodiment, it is not intended to limit the invention to the specific form and arrangements shown, it being contemplated that various changes may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

Referring now to' the drawings for a detailed description of a preferred embodiment of this invention, a sailing vessel 10 is shown in Fig. 1, having a mainmast 11, a mainsail 12, and a boom 13 at the foot of the mainsail 12. Also shown in Fig. 1 is a bowsprit 14, a jib 15 extending from the top of the mainmast 11 to the end of the bowsprit 14, and a jib 16.

The jib 16 is best shown in Figs. 2 and 3 and includes a triangular sail 17 having a luff edge 18, a leech edge 19, and a foot edge 20, the intersections of which define a head 21, a clew 22, and a tack 23. A tape 24 is secured to the luff 18 of the sail 1"! and, as shown in Fig. 3, the tape 24 comprises an elongated strip of fabric, substantially the length of the luff 38, which is folded upon itself to form a pair of main flaps 25 and 26, with the flap 25 being folded inwardly upon itself to form an inner flap 27. The luii 118 of the sail 17 is secured, by stitches 29, between the main flap 26 and the inner flap 27 so as to provide a passage 23 Within the tape 24 which extends the full length of the luff from head to tack.

A grommet 39 is shown fastened in the clew 22 to provide means for attaching a line 31 (Fig. l) and a grommet 32 is shown fastened in the lower end of the tape 24 adjacent the tack 23 of the sail 17.

A non-rigid line member 33, which may be made of tightly braided rope or wire,is disposed generally freely in the passage 28 but is seized or secured to the tape 24 at only one point. As shown in Fig. 2, the line member 33 is seized to the tape only adjacent the head 21 of the sail 17 as shown at 34.

A first downhaul 35 is formed by the lower end of the line 33 and a second down haul 36 is secured to the grommet 32 in the tack 23 of the sail 17.

With this construction it is believed evident that the tension of the line 33 and the luff 18 of the sail 17 may be independently adjusted. Thus, the line 33 can be tensioned properly for a particular wind condition by pulling on the first downhaul 35 and then the Ind 18 of the sail 17 may be tensioned independently by pulling on the second downhaul 36 so as to remove any wrinkles that might form along the luff 18 of the sail. When, in the past, a line such as 33 wasseized at spaced intervals to the luff edge of a jib, tensioning of this line in a strong wind invariably produced a series of pockets and wrinkles between the points of seizing which thus reduced the efiiciency of the jib.

In making the jib 16 of this invention, reference is made to Fig. 4 of the drawing. First, the sail 17 is formed of the desired size and shape with the lufi edge 18 as the longest edge, the leech edge 19, and the foot edge 20. Then the tape 24 is cut to a length to fit the luff 18 and is folded upon itself as shown in Fig. 3. With the head 21 of the sail 17 staked down, as at 37, and tension applied at the clew 22 and the tack 23 of the sail 17, the tape 24 is positioned adjacent the lufi 18 of the sail 17 and its upper end is also staked down, as at 38, with tension being applied to its lower end. Then the luff 18 of the sail 17 and the tape 24 are matchmarked throughout their length. At some later time, after the sail 17 and the tape 24 have been released from tension, the luff edge 18 is disposed between the main flap 26 and the inner flap 27 of the tape with the matchmarks in alignment and the tape 24 is then stitched to the luff 18 of the sail 17 with stitches 29. The grommet 32 is thereupon fastened in the tape 24 adjacent the tack 23 of the sail 17 and the grommet 30 is fastened in the clew 22 of the sail 17.

The non-rigid line member 33 is passed through the passage 28 formed within the tape 24 so that it extends from both ends of the tape 24. the tape 24 at the head 21 of the sail 17 only, as at 34, the rest of the line 33 being loose in the passage 28.

As the final step in rigging the jib 16 to a sailing vessel, downhauls 35 and 36 are secured respectively to the line member 33 and the grommet 32 so that the line 33 and the luff 18 of the sail 17 may be independently tensioned to adjust the draw for all wind conditions.

In adjusting the sail 17, the line 33 is first properly tensioned by exerting a pull on the downhaul 35. Then, a pull is exerted on the downhaul 36 to properly tension the luff 18 of the sail 17 and pull any wrinkles out of the jib itself. This provides a smooth unwrinkled lufi edge 18 and greatly improves the efliciency of the jib 16. In Fig. 5, the jib 16 is shown adjusted for a heavy wind with a very shallow pocket being formed, in Fig. 6, the jib 16 is shown adjusted for a very light Wind whereupon a relatively deep pocket is formed therein.

I claim:

1. A jib comprising: a sail of suitable fabric having a luff edge, a leech edge and a foot edge, a folded tape It is then seized tosewed along the luff edge of the sail, a line freely passing through a passage defined by the folded tape and seized to the tape adjacent the head of the sail only, a first downhaul connected to the lower end of the line for adjusting the tension thereof, and a second downhaul secured to the lower end of the tape for independently adjusting the tension of the luff of the sail for all wind conditions.

2. A jib comprising: a sail having three edges meeting to form corners, means along one edge defining an enclosed passage extending the length thereof, a flexible line disposed in said passage and secured'to said sail only near one corner thereof, means secured to the line for tensioning the same, and a downhaul secured to the adjacent corner of the sail for independently varying the tension thereof and, thus, adjusting the draw of the jib for all wind conditions.

3. A jib comprising: a sail having a luff, a line at least as long as the lutf, secured to one end of the luff, means slidably connecting the remainder of the luff to the line, means secured to the line for adjusting the tension thereof, and other means secured to the other end of the luff for adjusting the tension of the luff of the sail independently of the tension of the line.

4. A jib comprising: a sail of suitable fabric having a luff edge, a leech edge and a foot edge, a folded fabric tape sewed to the luff edge while said tape and luff edge were under tension equally to tension said tape and luff edge, a line freely passing through a passage defined by the folded tape and seized to the tape adjacent the head of the sail only, a first downhaul connected to the lower end of the line for adjusting the tension thereof, and a second downhaul secured to the lower end of the tape for independently adjusting the tension of the luff of the sail for all wind conditions.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

